William's Love - 42. Chapter 42

Foundation

“Hurry up, Lee,” Liam calls up to the second floor at Dad’s, walking over to me. He leans in and kisses me.

“You seem stressed, Honey,” I sweep Liam’s hair out of his eyes.

Liam shrugs his shoulders and flatly says, “I'm all right,”

“Do you want to try that again?” I smile warmly cupping his cheek. Liam smiles back at me weakly, then leans in for another kiss.

Lee jumps down the last four steps, landing in a Jiu Jitsu pose at the bottom, “I’m ready suckers.” Liam and I jump apart, startled. The little shit scared the crap out of me. Lee laughs raucously, as he passes by us to go to my truck. Liam smiles weakly, shakes his head and leads me to the truck holding my hand.

“Papi asked if we could stop by the café and grab everyone a coffee.” I relay, fastening my seatbelt.

“Okay. Did Papi say how long they’ll need us for today?” Liam asks backing turning the truck around.

“Probably a couple of hours. The lease was signed early this morning, and the furniture has already been delivered. I can’t imagine it will take very long. The computers won’t be there until the end of the week. Oliver has already said he’ll set them up for Dad when they come in.” I reach across and take Liam’s hand in mine, then resting them on the middle console. Liam squeezes my hand. He really does seem down today. I wonder if baseball is on his mind. Maybe he’s still upset that I want to go and see my Mother’s ex-husband. That’s probably what it is.

“Are you still upset with me because I want to check on my Mother’s ex-husband?” I mutter to Liam.

“No Babe, I was never mad at you, only concerned,” Liam answers quietly concentrating on the road ahead.

“Then please tell me what has you down?” I ask with concern.

He glances in the rear-view mirror, then says, “We’ll talk about it later, not right now.”

The rest of the trip to the foundation office was quiet, including the stop for coffees.

<>-<>-<>

We off load out of the elevator into the reception area of the new offices, for ‘The William Sands Foundation.’ Two men are building a front desk, in the reception area. We three, Lee, Liam and I acknowledge them as we strode past, on our way to the central part of the office. Uncle Luke, his family, and all of mine and Liam’s family are hard at work putting furniture together. Dad and Papi ordered everything flat packed, and we had been summoned to put it together. This would save us a ‘but load of money,’ according to Papi.

“Yes!” Papi says as he reaches for the coffee I’m holding out for him. Then calls, “Coffee break!” Over his shoulder to the happy helpers. “Thanks for getting these, it saved one of us stopping work to get them. Plus you were on your way here.”

“You’re welcome,” Liam says as he saunters off. I watch him as he walks away, he isn’t happy at all. He doesn’t seem to be upset with me, but something is definitely off. Unless it’s baseball, or me dragging him to see my Mother’s ex-husband, I can’t think of anything that would have him this down. Liam is always so even tempered, nothing really ever gets to him. He just goes with the flow. He’s hurting, so I’m hurting, and I want to know why. I’ll get him alone later and force it out of him somehow.

“Earth to Will,” Dad said, waving his hand in front of my face.

“Huh?” I reply shaking my thoughts loose. I can deal with what’s plaguing Liam later today.

“Which office do you want?” Dad asks, probably for the third time.

“Don’t care, ask Liam, I’ll take whatever,” I answer shrugging my shoulders.

“Okay,” Dad turns until he can see Liam, “Liam, which office do you want?”

“Will and I can share, we probably won’t need an office each, until we finish college.” Liam looks around the floor at the offices.

Dad rolls his eyes, “How did I know you two would say that?” Dad mutters under his breath. “Well, you’re in luck. See that long office between the two training room doors?” Dad points to the back of the room, at the office. Bill and I, purchased two corner desks with an extension. They interlock to make one big desk against the back wall of that office. The rest of us are going to let you figure out that nightmare. The normal desks are kicking our ass, so you boys are on your own with that one.” He snickers then sips his coffee.

“Okay,” Liam and I say in unison. Our eyes meet, and we laugh. “Jinx!” We both say together.

“What about me Dad, can I have an office?” Lee asks batting his lashes at Dad.

“Of course you can, what are you going to do in your office?” Dad asks Lee, putting his arm around his shoulders affectionately.

“I can do stuff,” Lee says thinking, “I can be Will and Liam’s assistant. They can give me things to do so I can help, like research things, make phone calls for them. They can teach me stuff,” Lee lists off what he could do.

“Are you going to have time little brother?” Liam asks, “You love your job, and you spend an awful lot of time there. We don’t want to interfere with that. You want to be a florist, you also have homework. Maybe you can bunk in with us. You can do your homework in there, and if we need help, it’s better you’re with us anyway. Dad said there’s an extension between the two corner desks that can be yours,” Liam smiles affectionately at Lee.

“You wouldn’t mind me being in there with you two?” Lee looks at his feet while he’s asking.

“Are you kidding? We’d love you to be in there with us. We get to spend time together, it will be fun.” Liam answers, then in a stage whisper his says, “Plus Will is boring, he works too hard. You and me, we know how to have fun.” Lee looks at me sideways to see my reaction. I turn my head the other way as if I’m not listening.

“Thanks, Liam,” Lee rushes over and gives Liam a hug, which makes him smile. That warms my heart.

“Hmph! So that’s how it’s gonna be. I’m fun – sometimes.” I huff, crossing my arms over my chest.

“Of course you are Babe, we have fun all the time,” Liam is snickering with a big smile. Lee is trying to hide his grin.

“Hmph! Well, I’m going to go and put my part of the desk together and play with myself.” Then I heard what I had said, “No, not play with myself, I mean have fun by myself,” everyone was laughing. “Damn it, you all suck,” I stalk away in a mock huff, chuckling at my own absurdity.

“Oh Honey, we were only kidding,” Liam calls out as he chuckles his way through.

I spin around, poking my tongue out like Gene Simmons and giving him a twin finger salute. I chuckle when I could hear Liam getting ribbed by everyone. Putting my coffee on the floor, I got stuck into putting one of the desks together. Opening the box was more of a nightmare than reading the instructions. The instructions were barely decipherable at best. In the end, I give up on the instructions and decide to go with common sense. It only took me about half an hour to put the desk together. The group is still standing around talking when I finish.

“What are you a bunch of city workers,” I call out from the doorway of the office, “get to work,” I chuckle as I start on the other desk.

“Um, Will?” I look up and see Lee nervously standing by the door of the office, “Can I help you, please?” Poor kid wouldn’t look me in the eye.

I smile, “Sure, Spud. Do you want to get started on the extension?” I point to the box, “Make sure you read the instructions all the way through before you start. Somehow it connects these two desks… Actually, how about, we do that together first. I’d hate to put this desk together only to find I have to pull it apart.” I laugh and ruffle his hair.

Lee rolls his eyes, “That would suck.” He opens the box with ease. I want to kick him. It was hell trying to get the other two boxes open – typical. “I’m sorry if we upset you earlier,” Lee offers timidly as he goes in search of the instruction sheet.

“You guys didn’t upset me, it was all in fun. Besides, I’ll make Liam pay for it later,” I chuckle. Lee and I got stuck into constructing the extension and the second desk. We only had to take one panel off of the desk I’d already completed to connect it all together. Lee and I stand back after finishing to admire our success. I put my hand up for a high five and Lee delivers. “I’m taking Cash and C.C. to the shelter this afternoon. Did you want to come with us, you can stay over at ours tonight if you want. We’ll get pizza and watch movies. Nothing exciting, but it will be a relaxing evening. You can bring Pickles if you want. I’ve bought her a litter tray and some food for whenever you want to bring her over.”

I can see the wheels turning in his head, “Um… Maybe,”

I scoffed, “Got a better offer on the table, have you? A hot date, perhaps?” I bump him with my shoulder.

Lee giggles, “Noooo, smart-ass. I was going to ask if you mind Jason staying over too? I miss having him around all of the time.”

“You’ll have to ask Liam about that, but I’m good with it,” I tell him. Lee went running off, “Hey Spud, come here for a second,” I call out to him. He stops, spins around and comes back.

“Yeah?” He stares at me waiting. Sitting down on the edge of the desk, I pat the space next to me.

“Sit down for a sec,” Lee sat down begrudgingly, crossing his legs and facing my side.

“Do have a crush on Jason?” I ask with concern. Lee shook his head. “Are you sure? It’s okay if you do,” I said reassuringly. He shook his head again. I can see he’s telling the truth because he’s looking me straight in the eye. He’s not fidgety or nervous like he normally would be when he’s uncomfortable. “Okay, that’s all.”

Lee screws up his face in confusion, “Why’d you think that?”

“I was just checking. It’s that Jason’s a lot older than you. He’ll be eighteen in December, and you won’t be fifteen until next year. It’s a big difference at your age.” I answer.

“Nah! I don’t see him like that. Wouldn’t matter if I did, the Dad’s would go bananas. I see him like I do you and Liam. Dating him would be like dating either one of you. Ew!” His whole body shuddered.

“Hey, you could do a lot worse than the three of us,” I said defensively.

“Sure, if you say so,” Lee grins mischievously.

“Go on, get lost, ya brat,” I grin back at him.

“Love you Will,” Lee calls over his shoulder as he leaves the office at the speed of light.

I take a moment to drink it all in. This is going to be our office for the foreseeable future. I hope we can decorate it a little. It’s kind of drab and dull. I’d like a whiteboard on the wall. We’ll also need office supplies. I pull out my phone and start writing a list of what we’ll need. I wonder who’s in charge of the office supplies. Hopping off of the desk I walk to the door of the room and lean against the frame. Between thoughts and typing my lists, I observe everyone as they finish up what they are doing.

“Hey Will, give us a hand getting these chairs into the offices,” Scott calls over to me.

“Sure,” I put my phone away and help Scott. Once everything is unpacked and put together, everyone starts to gather around one of the pods. When the last tenants vacated, they left some furniture behind. It was still in good condition and already set up. There are nine work stations in three groups of three in the middle open. Dad and Papi decided to leave them there for when we need more staff.

Liam comes up behind me, wrapping his arms around my middle. I let my head fall to the side and nestle in the crook of his neck. I love this man so much, I can’t imagine being anywhere but with him. He must be able to hear my thoughts, because he kissed my forehead and said, “Love you, Babe,”

“Love you back,”

“While I’ve got you all,” Mom announced, “Tomorrow afternoon, we’ll get together with the other members of the board, Ian, Derek, and Theo…”

Liam interrupted, “Will and I won’t be able to make it, we have a meeting,”

Dad frowned, “What kind of meeting?”

“Nothing to do with the foundation,” Liam answers. Dad raises an eyebrow inquiringly at the pair of us. Liam and I didn’t volunteer any further information. Thankfully Dad let it go. I certainly don’t feel like explaining myself, not in front of everybody.

“That’s okay,” Mom saves us, “Come for dinner tomorrow night, and we’ll fill you in.”

“Thanks, Momma,” Liam replies. I’m not sure which he was thanking her for. The save or the invitation.

<>-<>-<>

“Hello family,” I greet the hive of activity in Mom’s kitchen. Liam is standing beside me, his arm around my waist. It smells wonderful in here, the combined aroma of the beef and vegetables is making me salivate. I love Mom’s roasts. I can’t even remember the last time she made us one. Our life has changed so much in one year, it’s insane.

Dad turns to face us, a big smile on his face, “Hello my Sons, how are things?”

“We’re okay,” Liam says flatly.

Dad frowns, “That good huh? Did your meeting not go well?”

“No it was all right we’ll tell you about it during dinner. Can we help with anything?” Liam asks.

“Yes, take this meat plate,” Mom hands the plate to Liam, “and Will can you take the bread basket and gravy. Then seat yourselves at the table, dinner’s ready.” We took our givings and went to the table and set them down. Liam pulls a chair out for me to sit down.

“Thank you, Baby, you’re sweet.” I lean over and kiss him once he is seated. Liam sweeps my hair back out of my eyes, my love smile plastered on his face.

“You need another hair cut Babe,” Liam suggests.

“I know it keeps getting in my eyes. It’s annoying as hell. I’ll go sometime this week.” I agree smiling warmly at Liam.

He shrugs his shoulder, “I like seeing your beautiful eyes. We’ll go together.”

“Knock it off you two, you’re sickening. The rest of want to eat and keep our food down.” Papi laughs. Both Liam and I poke our tongue out at him. “Dear God,” Papi chortles, “is there anything you two don’t do together.”

Shrugging my shoulders, with a deadpan delivery I start off with, “No, not really. Just this morning, I was brushing my teeth, while Liam was taki…” I was rudely cut off.

“WILL!” The family yells in unison as Liam quietly snickers next to me. It was only our immediate family tonight. It’s nice, we haven’t had a dinner with just us in a long time. I love having the extended family around and love our housemates to pieces. However, this is nice for a change. We can quietly catch up without the input from everybody.

“Where’s Uncle Luke clan,” I ask curiously.

“They've gone to Virginia for a couple of days,” Mom answers. Well, there you go.

“So is there anything Will and I should know from today's board meeting?” Liam asks as he’s loading his plate with garlic mash potatoes. I frown at how much he put on his plate. “What?” he says to me with a straight face.

“What are you pregnant and eating for two?” I smirk at him.

Liam crosses his fingers holding them up, closes his eyes and retorts, “I keep hoping,” I nudge him with my elbow, and he chuckles leaning in and kisses my cheek.

“Ugh! You two are gross,” Lee rolls his eyes.

“Thank you,” I say in appreciation, grinning at him. Again Lee rolls his eyes.

Mom intervenes, answering Liam’s question, “Not much really, John, your Dad, has given us the budget for the next six months.”

“Okay, what does that mean?” I ask.

“Well, first is employees. Right now it’s pretty much all hands on deck, we all need to help and do our bit. Salaries won’t be much to start out with, but as time goes by, they’ll catch up to industry norms. John has budgeted for a full-time trainer and a full-time paid assistant for Bill. Seb won’t be taking the job we offered, as he already committed to the one he was offered by the company he works at now.” Liam and I both look at each other, I guarantee we are thinking the same thing. “You boys have been budgeted for eight hours per week – not more. It’s your senior year, and it’s important you focus on that.”

“Sure, that’s reasonable. We can still help when it’s needed though,” Liam tells his Mom.

“I know sweet boy, and trust me, we’ll make you,” she chortled, “We’ll be advertising the positions and taking resumes. Hopefully, we’ll be able to set interviews for next week sometime.”

“Hmm,” Liam mutters under his breath, “Do you need Will or I for the interviews?” he inquires.

“Not if you don’t want to, I’m sure we can handle it. We’ll only need your input when a position directly affects either of your jobs.” Mom answers, “Why, what’s up?”

“Nothings up, Will, and I aren’t available for the next eight days,” Liam says. My head snaps to Liam, he smiles warmly at me and squeezes my thigh. Okay, I’ll trust him. He obviously has something in the works.

“What’s going on with the two of you? All this secrecy,” Dad asks with concern, and none too happy at the same time.

“Well, now that it’s out there. Will surprised me with our wedding, and it was everything I wanted. The whole day was perfect. My surprise to him is a honeymoon.” He says looking at me with nothing but love. “I’m not giving any details away. Will can call you all tomorrow afternoon, once we’ve arrived,” Liam says adamantly.

“Really Baby, thank you,” my eyes are stinging, and I can feel a tear escape. Liam wipes it away and kisses me chastely, “I love you,” looking around the table, Lee and our parents are happy for us.

“That’s great to hear,” Dad says happily, “You boys haven’t had any time for yourselves in months. Well, practically since you first got together. Make sure you enjoy it.”

“We will,” Liam says, “I have everything planned out. Will is going to love it. There is even a couples massage involved.” He waggles his eyebrows at me.

“So gross,” Lee mutters, but with a smile on his face. “When I get a boyfriend, I’m going to make sure we gross you out so much. You won’t be able to eat for a week.”

“Yeah, here’s a tip for you then if you don’t want to be grossed out. Always knock before you go into Dad’s office, and be sure he says ‘Enter,’ not ‘Come in.’” I laugh hysterically as does Liam, giving me a high five. Dad and Papi stare daggers.

“Huh! Why?” Lee says so innocently.

“Just trust me,” I wink and take a sip of my water.

I can see Lee’s mind cogs at work, and the light goes on, “Eww! Really?” He looks at our Dads with a scowl on his face.

Of course, Papi decides to own it, shrugs a shoulder and nonchalantly says “It’s our house, why not?”

“Ew! Kids present,” I grouse.

“La, la, la, la, la, la,” Liam is singing, holding his hands over his ears. Laughing I pull Liam’s hands away from his ears. “Oh, he’s finished.”

Lee is frozen with nothing to say.

“Lee!” I call out to get his attention.

“Huh?” He grunts, turning his focus to me.

“If you visit the shelter while we’re away, can you take Cash and C.C. with you please?”

“Oh yeah, sure, no problem.” Lee answers still dazed.

“Since you put your Papi and me on the spot. What was your meeting about today?” Dad asks seriously.

I glance at Liam, “Tell them, Babe, you can’t keep it a secret,” he tells me.

Resigning to my fate, “We went and met with Mitchell Pearce today,”

“Why on earth, Will?” Dad gasps.

“I needed to make sure he was okay,” I reply sheepishly.

“Will, you don’t know the man. He could have hurt you, you don’t know what his state of mind is.” Dad is tearing me a new one. I put my hand up as if to say stop.

“Adam and his partner spoke with him first and set up the meeting. They took us, we met Mr. Pearce at the diner in a public place. Adam and Payne were there the entire time.”

“Okay. And?” Dad says defeatedly. What choice does he have, since we had already done it?

“She broke him, Dad. The man is bitter, angry and about ten other things. He lost his house, car, all his other assets. Unfortunately, when they got married, he put everything in both their names. He’s also lost his job because of it, and his family isn’t speaking to him any longer. He’s nothing left. I’m a little worried because he’s got nothing left to lose.”

“Oh dear,” Mom gasps, putting her hand to her chest, “that poor man,”

“Yep, Mr. Pearce doesn’t really seem like a bad person underneath it all. He didn’t know Will existed before she was arrested. He was also upset he had a step-son and wasn’t even aware of it. He did say he wished he would have gotten to know Will and he felt robbed of the opportunity. The poor guy thought they were doing well and were happy. She’s basically pulled the rug out from under him. He’s staying at some seedy motel that you pay by the week at the moment. He’s not sure how much longer he can stay there, as his cash is depleting fast and no-one will hire him.” Liam relays the information we gathered to them.

“What does he do for a living?” Dad asks.

“I’m not really sure, he did explain, it kind of sounds like what Papi does. I do know that he has the same degree as you, Papi.” I answer.

“Did you give him anything or offer him anything?” Dad asks.

“He didn’t ask for anything, nor did we offer,” Liam assures him.

“Will, I can hear your wheels squeaking from here. Spill! I know you want us to do something.” Dad says in his no nonsense voice like Father’s do.

“Well, since we still have to fill the position of Papi’s assistant. Maybe we could offer it to him temporarily, or at least ask him for his resumé. That way it’s not a hand-out, and he has to interview for the job.” I said shrugging my shoulders. We were all quiet for a couple of minutes. I can tell Dad is disappointed by me going to see Mr. Pearce. For some reason, I had to make sure he was alright.

“Dad, like Liam said he seems like a decent man. He just got caught in the web of that venomous devil woman. I feel for him, we are all still financial, and we still all have each other. We came out the other side faring okay, but he has nobody for support and no finances. I honestly don’t think he would take a hand-out. But if we can help him, knowing how he’s suffering, shouldn’t we help.” Atta boy Will play the heart strings. He’s the one that brought me up, and to think and feel the way I do.

After a minute, Dad waivers, “Leave it with us, Will, we’ll talk about it, and then decide what to do. It’s the best we can offer you right now. How do we get in touch with him?” Dad sighs.

“Through Adam, we didn’t exchange contact information with Mr. Pearce,” I reply.

“At least you did something smart,” Dad mutters.

“I didn’t do this to upset you, if you don’t want to do anything, don’t. I can’t and won’t force it upon you guys. I was only asking.” I say in a huff, standing and clearing the dishes off of the table. Dad follows me into the kitchen with more plates from the table.

“Will…” Dad starts.

“Don’t Dad,” I cut him off, stuffing dirty dishes in the dishwasher. “All I want to do right now is go home, pack for the next eight days and get ready for our trip. Past that point, I no longer care.”

<>-<>-<>

Laying here in the bath, with hot the water surrounding my body, the bubble tickling my nose as I sink myself lower. I can feel the tension from today subside while watching Benny’s little boat tackling the foam to forge its own path. Benny leaves the boat here for when he visits. Man, that kid is awesome. The one thing I think Liam is right about, me and him with our own children, would be us enjoying life. Even at our young age. We both enjoy being around kids, playing with them, teaching them. If we have children, it would be because we want them. The real thing would be we wouldn’t have to struggle financially. We’d still get to go to college and get an education.

I think I’m going to cave on the after college before children and settle for the after school finishes. We’re too young for the adoption route, but I’d like to go with the surrogate anyway. We can look at adopting later when we are old enough. But I definitely want Liam to have his baby or babies. I have a year or so to look into it.

Closing my eyes, and I feel a draft, so I know Liam has come into the bathroom, causing me to smile.

“Hey Baby,” I say just above a whisper.

“I wondered where you got to,” Liam says softly, sitting on the side of the tub.

Reaching for his hand, “Come and join me, you’re the only thing missing to make this perfect.” He stands and starts undressing. When he pulls off his shorts and boxers, I gasp.

“What?” He says in a panic, looking down at himself.

Chortling, I comment, “I forgot how sexy you are,”

“Move over beautiful, make room for me.” Liam pushes Benny’s boat out of his way and climbs in between my legs and lays his back to my front. I wrap my arms around him, pulling him to me.

“Now this, this is perfect,” I whisper, kissing his neck.

“Hmm…”